January 2004 Archives

So I was following up on the story I wrote earlier about Sunset Direct sending out the memo ordering its employees not to use the phone or email for personal business. Sunset Direct came out and said it is a hoax.

Which is exactly what I would say about it, even if I HAD sent it.

But if it indeed a fraud, I'll let you know, but as of now, I'm leaving my story as is.

And for the record, Doug Monahan is still a shithead for creating a company that specializes in sending out spam faxes. I hate spam of all colors.

So I was reading Business 2.0's "101 Dumbest Moments in Business" for 2003 and came across the following memo:

"I expect my computers to be used for work only. I expect my phones to be used for work only. Should you receive a personal call, keep it short. Should you receive a personal e-mail, I expect the e-mail either not answered, or a brief note telling whoever is sending you e-mails at work to stop immediately. Should I go through machines, which I assure you, I will be doing, and I find anything to the contrary, you will be terminated immediately. For those who think I am kidding, and do not get with this program, I will promise you that by Christmas eve 8:00 you will be gone."

This despicable memo was sent by this shithead, otherwise known as Doug Monahan. I mean, who is this shithead to think that when people come to work they leave their personal life at the door, or more for that point to ignore people when they do send emails. "I know you're really sick honey, but you can't call me at work today". And then, for this shithead to threaten to fire people on Christmas is absolutely outstanding. This dickhead really knows how to motivate and inspire his employees and keep their morale high. God that is INSANE.

But then, the company he founded specializes in sending junk spam via faxes, so what do I expect? He's a slimeball to begin with.

If I had been his employee I would wiped my ass with this memo and left it on his desk. Fuck you Doug, and your attitude too. Just because the economy's bad doesn't mean that you get to start crapping on your employees. They're still human beings and deserve some common decency.

---

So let me ask...are your bosses still treating you well? Or have things become increasingly less employee-friendly at your job since the economy went into recession? And while we're at it, who was your worst boss ever? Comment, or email me your stories and I'll put them up here later.

I got my bonus check today! Yayyyyyy! Found money. :)

Uncle Sam of course had his dirty greasy filthy way with my pile of money and I ended up paying 36% on my check. What a bunch of garbage.

So now I'm giving them an interest-free loan of my own money that I earned so George Bush can spend $24 million to fight steroids in sports or spend $1.5 billion dollars to teach poor people how to have "healthy marriages".

It should be that you don't pay tax on your bonus unless it's above, say 35% of your yearly pay.

You know that point you reach at work sometimes where you think you're way ahead and then realize that through very little fault of your own, you've been doing everything wrong so far and you need to catch up mighty quick?

Yeah.

That's where I am right now.

Heather and I are members of the Free State Project because it appeals to our independent thinking and our hopes for more freedom and peace in our time.

The project recently announced a jamboree (for lack of a better word) in Lancaster, NH, which is up up up in the White Mountains, near the Canadian border. I think it's going to be a blast, and something fun to write about in my blog. It might have to wait until I get back because I don't know what kind of internet access I'll have available up there, but...you know, I should see about setting up an Internet cafe in Lancaster for that week....

Anyway, it's going to be a fun time all around.

Come, join us!

When I'm a-walking I strut my stuff And I'm so strung oooouttt!

It's 19:36 and I'm still at work trying to get stuff done for our next product roll-out. I should be home with my kids and my wife, eating dinner and doing the family guy thing. But I'm here instead listening to the Violent Femmes and compiling code.

Just thought I'd share.

I Hope You Know That This Will Go Down On Your Permanent Record

While I'm busy linking things, Heather and I joined a parent's group in Buck's County to let us meet other people with kids, and more importantly, let the babies play with other kids.

Heather and I have been worried that McKenna's not going to relate well to other kids, and she seems to have so much fun when there are other kids around that we felt it was the best thing for her some playmates.

We've been chatting with the people in the group for a week now, and they're all really cool. This should be fun.

If you're in Bucks County and looking for some other parents, the place to go is Bucks Parents.

See you online!

I saw this on another blog I enjoy and thought it would be fun...

Bold the states you've been in (airport or driving through only).
Underline the states you've spent the night in.
Italicize the state you're in.

1) Alabama, 2) Alaska, 3) Arizona, 4) Arkansas, 5) California, 6) Colorado, 7) Connecticut, 8) Delaware, 9) Florida, 10) Georgia, 11) Hawaii, 12) Idaho, 13) Illinois, 14) Indiana, 15) Iowa, 16) Kansas, 17) Kentucky, 18) Louisiana, 19) Maine, 20) Maryland, 21) Massachusetts, 22) Michigan, 23) Minnesota, 24) Mississippi, 25) Missouri, 26) Montana, 27) Nebraska, 28) Nevada, 29) New Hampshire, 30) New Jersey, 31) New Mexico, 32) New York, 33) North Carolina, 34) North Dakota, 35) Ohio, 36) Oklahoma, 37) Oregon, 38) Pennsylvania, 39) Rhode Island, 40) South Carolina, 41) South Dakota, 42) Tennessee, 43) Texas, 44) Utah, 45) Vermont 46) Virginia, 47) Washington, 48) West Virginia, 49) Wisconsin, 50) Wyoming, 51) Washington, DC

Wow, more than I thought...

Obviously though, I need to spend more time in the Mid-West and the Rockies.

I tried to get as much sleep as possible so I could remember all of the dream, but no dice. All I can remember is this:

I was working on a comedy movie with some black guys and we were looking for funding.

We decided to approach Michael Rapaport, who starred in Bamboozled, Higher Learning, and Zebrahead. We thought maybe he would give us funding.

But when he saw the idea, and that we were making fun of UPN and it's racial bias, he got really mad and tried to start a fight with me. All I could think in the dream was how ludicrous it was for Michael Rapaport to tell me that we couldn't make fun of racial stereotypes given all of the racially charged movies he's done. And that it was even more absurd for him to start a fight with me about when I wasn't the only writer, and a lot of the material came from black writers too.

The more I think about Terri Schiavo and her case, the more I think that she needs to live, and it's important that her family be given the chance to provide her with the care she needs.

Previously, I had talked about the need to hear what her husband had to say, and to have some compassion for him as well, but the more details that come out, the more it is apparent to me that Michael Schiavo does not care for her, and should turn power of attorney over to her parents.

I want to thank Allyson, who commented on my story and prompted me to thank more about the case, and caused me to re-examine my position.

I curse Office Max for getting Rubberband Man from The Spinners in my head.

DEAR LORD MAKE IT STOP. I downloaded the song from iTunes and I can't get myself to stop replaying the song over and over and over and over again.

It's this or "She's a Lady" from Tom Jones, which my wife was singing to McKenna this morning.

Hey, y’all prepare yourself
For the Rubberband man
You never heard a sound
Like the rubberband man
You’re bound to lose control
When the Rubberband starts to jam

Though I'm sure it seems like I am.

I've just been busy the past couple of days, and things have been topsy-turvey. I'm very busy at work, and I'm trying to help Heather set up her own business (more on that later). We also joined a parent's group here in Bucks County so we can take the kids to play with other kids during the week and get some social time.

Oh, then on Saturday afternoon, I went to my buddy Chris' house for game night with him and another good friend Mike. We played Risk and Puerto Rico. I was the blue-ribbon loser on both. But that wasn't the point. It was just nice to get to play some games and spend time with them. I haven't seen them a lot since I moved out here. If you haven't played it before, I highly recommend Puerto Rico. It's an excellent game.

The last week, everyone but me has been sick in the house, so the little bit of free time that I've had was spent taking care of feverish infants and irritable wife. :)

Oh the joys of fatherhood. Heather and I both have had shorter than normal fuses with each other, and we're getting on each other's nerves. It's no good to be in that situation, and we're working on it, but it's made things a little more explosive around the house.

That, and we bought tickets to go see Barenaked Ladies at the Hershey Giant Center the weekend of Valentines Day as our present to ourselves. What a blast that will be.

Alright, it's 11, and I need to help put Owen to sleep. I just wanted everyone to know that I'm not dead...yet. ;)

I was checking out some of my favorite blogs, and I came across this. Scroll down for the children's rhyme and accompanying picture at the bottom.

I hit my head on my desk I was laughing so hard.

I imagine it's probably completely out of my league, or the realms of possibility, but I've been struck by a sudden desire to attend The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. More and more, computers cease to be as interesting as they once were and the business world (accounting, finance, etc) becomes MORE interesting. Wharton is one of the best business schools around, and I don't live that far away from the school. The question is whether or not they would take me.

These are the only fragments I remember, but here goes:

I was enrolled in a German class, but it wasn't just the German language, it was German culture, and German food, and German architecture. It was complete immersion in all things German. Heather was taking the class with me, and the classroom looked like an antique shop with hutches and armoires and cabinets scattered around holding old books and bottles of schnapps and brandy. A permanent yellow light shown through the windows on the far wall, lighting up the dost motes floating in the air.

I was trying to convince a friend of mine R___ to take the class with me because for one of the classes there was going to be drawing and painting and we needed nude models and I wanted her to be the model.

..........

Later on, I was taking a trip with Heather and we had bought a Jeep Liberty. My friend Brian was going with us, and it was only a two day trip, but he filled up the entire back of the Jeep with miscellaneous bags, they looked like the archetypal carpetbagger bags, and he wouldn't explain why he needed them all, he just did.

So I might be a cultural loser, or lose some esteem in your eyes, oh reader, but this week's dirty little secret is that I really do enjoy watching American Idolm.

There, I said it. Whew, I'm glad that's off my chest.

There is a plague that is enveloping IT, and has for many years now, fed, in part by the .COM boom. It affects every project, and every firm that I have dealt with. The industry has it’s paradigm upside down, and whether this is because the IT industry suffers from some inferiority complex or it’s just been taught that this is how you do business, it’s going to continue to sink projects and destroy firms unless something changes. The plague is the fact that companies let their customers run their projects and make IT decisions, even if the customers are not informed or educated about IT. We let the customer make decisions about coding standards, features to add, delivery dates, layout, etc.

Today's Weight: 315 lbs.
Today's Exercise: 30 minutes on the Elliptical Trainer. That bitch of a machine says I'm only burning 50 calories when I use it for 30 minutes. That just doesn't seem right.

# of Mt. Dews Drank: 1 24oz. bottle

Other newsworthy events:
I entered into a competition with my buddy Chris Allwein to see which one of use can hit 218 lbs first this year. He has several distinct advantages over me in this endeavor. He weighs less, he's single and has more time to exercise, he has a treadmill at home, and he's already got momentum because he's already lost a bunch of weight. But I just look at these as motivators, not obstacles.

It amazes me that no one has really commented on this yet, but I'll take a stab:

When O'Neill announced in his book that Bush had started planning for war way before 9/11, the Bush Administration's first response was "Well, so did Bill Clinton". This startled me for two reasons:

1. The Bush Administration went greath lengths to disavow themselves from the Clinton Administration and every one of its policies. Funny now that they suddenly admit they liked some of them.
2. But more damning is this. I don't think that Clinton's plan ever called for a unilateral ground war waged under the pretense of weapons of mass destruction that no one has been able to find or verify.

Holding up Clinton as the predecessor of this war is a red herring. Nothing about what Bush did bears in any way a resemblence to the kind of foreign policy put forward by Clinton.

And I'm amazed that no one else has talked about this.

Dear Dad,
Owen was baptized this weekend. I wish you could have been there. I wish I could say that I know you would have been there if you could, but based on what my half-sister told me, you weren't always the most reliable during her life either. I don't say this to shame you, or make you feel bad. The funny thing is, I feel bad, like somehow I didn't hold on long enough. Like somehow I could have stopped the slow process of the cancer that ate you up from the inside out.

I miss you like hell on some days. Several times I could have sworn that I felt your hand on my shoulder, or I felt you enter the room like only you could. I was looking for that feeling on my wedding day, but I never felt it. I was looking for it when McKenna was born, and the whole ordeal afterwards with losing my job and looking for work and raising a little girl. When Owen was born, I thought for sure you would be there to ring in the birth of your grandson. A boy! But I didn't feel you.

Now I'm a father of two, just like you were. A father of a boy and a girl, just like you were. And I'm afraid that somehow I'm going to turn out just like you were: Angry, distant, resentful. And still I wanted you there.

I wanted you there like I did when you saved me from that Siberian Husky, saving my life. You were my hero for that entire year. I wanted you there like when you would show up at the playground at school during recess and just give me a hug, or a piece of candy, or book you had bought just for me. I wanted you there like when you taught me to ride a bike.

I'm sure you can see all this from heaven, can hear me, and I know that you keep watch over me, but there are times when I need your strength, your presence, your hand on my shoulder to let me know that I'm doing okay. That finally, you're proud of me. That's all I ever wanted. You to be proud of me. When I taught myself to read sheet music like you could. When I mowed the lawn for you without you asking. When I brought in all those honor roll grades. When I won the Science Fairs. When I found a good job and starting making decent money. When I found a wonderful woman willing to be married to me and have a family with me. I wanted you to be proud of me. When I became a father...

Now Owen's starting on the journey of life, and I'm so proud to be his father. I can't believe I'm this lucky to have this opportunity. And all I ask is that if you can't be there for me, and be proud of me, stand by Owen and keep him safe. Protect him, keep him from harm, and let him know that you are there, so that no matter what happens he'll know the warmth of your presence. Maybe even in a way that I never got to know.

The best way to stick with something like a diet is if everyone knows about it, and what your progress has been so far. So here goes:

Today's Weight: 316 lbs
Today's Exercise: 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer

# of Mt. Dews Drank: 3 24oz bottles (they're so hard to stay away from)

This month's goal: Get below 300 lbs. That's less than a pound a day. That should be doable.

MoveOn.org recently came under fire from the Republican National Convention for hosting two ads created by someone else that compared Bush to Hitler. They wanted blood. MoveOn did the responsible thing and pulled the ads. Now it's important to remember that MoveOn did not make or sponsor or pay for the ad in anyway. It was made by a private citizen who then posted it to MoveOn's website for their campaign BushIn30Seconds.

So this week, the Club for Growth, a prominent Republican PAC, similar in scope and intention to MoveOn came out with an ad in Iowa that described supporters of Howard Dean as a:
tax-hiking,
government-expanding,
latte-drinking,
sushi-eating,
Volvo-driving,
New York Times-reading,
body-piercing,
Hollywood-loving,
left-wing freak show (source: Club For Growth)

That, folks, is a direct quote from the ad. Since when did it become okay for a group of politicians to openly call another portion of the American populace a 'freak-show' just because they don't agree with their politics? And when did someone become a freak for eating sushi, or drinking a latte, or driving a Volvo? I'm having trouble with this.

Latte-drinking...Now I remember reading somewhere, that the president's own chief speech writer is a big fan of Starbucks. He must be a latte-drinking freak himself.

Volvo-driving...Last time I checked, Ford owns Volvo. Does that mean you're a freak for driving a car built by an American company? In fact, Bill Ford, chairman of Ford (who owns Volvo) personally contributed to George Bush's campaign.

Hollywood-loving...Weren't the Republicans falling over themselves to get in line to love Arnold in California? Why yes they did. They wanted to change the Constitution just so Arnold can run for President! But that was proposed by Orrin Hatch, who also gets a lot of money from the MPAA, a Hollywood institution. And weren't the Republicans the first party to make an actor president? In fact, Republican leadership in the House collected $16,000 more from Hollywood companies than their Democractic counterparts. (source: opensecrets.org) It doesn't seem like the Republican party has any love lost with Hollywood.

government-expanding...I think this is the most disturbing accusation. Bush has presided over the largest budget increases and expansion of government powers since Lyndon Johnson and FDR. He hasn't vetoed a single spending bill that has come to him from Congress, and discretionary non-defense spending has risen 21% since he's been in power. The Federal government grew at a rate of 2.4% per year while Clinton was in office. So in a three-year period, the government of Bill Clinton grew 7.2% compared to the 21% for Dubya. You could view this as 14% increase, or a 300% increase, depending on how you want to skew the numbers. But it doesn't matter which way you skew it. This man promised to reign in government, but in this, he has again been a miserable failure.

All in all, it sounds like the Republicans, and George Bush specifically are pretty freaky themselves. So what can we say about the ad? It's a damn shame that the Club for Growth feels it has to be involved in such conspicuous dishonesty to not even smear a candidate, but the people who support a candidate that they feel offers a better vision of the future.

Regardless of what you think of Dean's policies, or of Dean himself, I think you can agree it's beyond the pale to call his supporters freaks.

So now the United States is demanding that airports ban people from standing in lines for the bathroom.

Apparently, Al-Qaeda holds all of its meetings in the loo. Thank God we stopped that.

Seriously, what's next, cameras in the stalls and biometric ass-prints? "I'm sorry sir, but your ass-print matches that of a known terrorist. You'll have to come with us." "But I'm from Paramus!" "That's enough from you Muhammed".

42.857142857142854% of me is a huge nerd! How about you?

So I'm trying to wean myself off of Mt. Dew. I don't need that much sugar, or the brominated vegetable oil (aka BVO), and so I'm kicking the habit.

I moved down to cans instead of bottles, and I'm limiting my intake that way, but I really want is a Mt. Dew patch, which will cut the cravings. ;) Anyone know of such a thing?

The unthinkable has occurred! Joe Gibbs has returned to coach the Redskins!

To a Redskins fan such as myself, this is like my long-lost daddy returning home after living with some other woman for a long time. Joe Gibbs lead the Redskins to 3 Superbowl victories out of 4 appearances, and has an outstanding record (124-60).

I feel like dancing.

I designed my own hell today! Not one for me personally, but for other people.

Here it is:

Boy that was fun, now wasn't it boys and girls? You say you want to try too? Here you go:

Design your own hell

I was looking at the bios of the Fab Five from Queer Eye For The Straight Guy and I saw that Carson Kressley (aka: The Flaming One) went to Gettysburg College.

I'm shocked. I lived in Gettysburg for four hellish years and I can tell you it is an awful, intolerant, backwards little town. It is the last place I'd look for anyone different than the Moral Majority ideal to emerge. My life there was the most harrowing years of my childhood, and I frankly cannot imagine how an openly gay man could have survived there. More power to him for making it work, and succeeding there (he graduated Magna Cum Laude). Even more credit goes to him for surviving in a town so far away from any stores that actually had fashion, when he's apparently so into fashion.

Christ, Gettysburg doesn't even have a mall, and the closest is in Hanover, and that's no great thrill. Back to school shopping for hot clothes meant picking between the Ames or the Jamesway.

More power to Gettysburg College and the Lutheran Church running it for being tolerant, and recognizing him for his accomplishments.

btw, if any of this makes you uncomfortable because I seem to be promoting a "gay" television show, or expressing admiration for a gay man...go fuck yourself or better yet, grow up! It's a new millennium. We're evolving. We're thinking with open minds. Come, join us.

I wanted to continue the discussion on spyware by giving everyone a few links to some software that removes spyware and adware (which is just a form of spyware that pops up ads on your computer whenever it feels like).

Spy-Review.com has lots of information about types of spyware and links to more in-depth information if you're interested.

Ad-Aware is considered the top-flight spyware/adware removal tool available, and as an added bonus, it's FREE! Easy to use and it's got a small footprint, so you shouldn't feel bad about leaving it on your hard drive. This is my personal choice.

I haven't personally used Opt-Out, but it looks very good. Since I haven't used it, I can't endorse, but if you're feeling brave, check it out and let me know what you think. I'll be more than happy to post anybody's experiences with the software.

Spybot-S&D is another spyware-removal tool. This one's been recommended by several people and also looks fairly good. Worth checking out.

Remember, spyware sits on your computer and watches what you do, where you go, and what you're doing on your computer. It can make your computer very unstable, and stop it from running properly, even causing crashes. It sends your personal information to companies without you ever knowing it and they in turn sell your private records to whomever will write them a check. This should be illegal, but it isn't. The only way to protect yourself is to take action yourself. These tools make it easy to do that. Don't let the companies watch you, and take back control of your PC.

Here are some more random thoughts for you to part with:

• The Register reported that the FBI has asked all police departments to watch anyone walking around cities with almanacs and/or maps. Good to know that the FBI still worries about my and your civil rights.
• I stated it before, but it's good to see that other people, especially journalists at big papers are beginning to recognize thatGeorge Bush is actively working to erode State's Rights. It's disgusting that Bush has been this, but even more disgusting that no one's said anything until now. Where's the media, and why don't they care? Until now, it's only been other bloggers raising the alarm.
• Bush is under fire for the 'No Child Left Behind Act' which he promised would raise educational standards and bring accountability back to education. I'm cool with those goals, but I'm not sure how he planned to make that happen by creating the law and then under-funding it by $8 billion. Maybe that $8 billion got eaten by the $87 billion we sent to Iraq, or the $35719125330 we've spent in Iraq already (as of this writing). Bush tried to claim that he had great success in turning around the schools in Texas when he was governor, but apparently Bush needs to return to school himself because his supposed miracle turned out to be a hoax, a fraud!. (Other sources here and here).
  
  And people wonder why some call Bush a miserable failure.
  
  Again, where were the journalists? The man in charge of the education of all of the children in America, Rod Paige, perpetrated a giant fraud on the people of Texas. This was almost certainly with the Bush administration informed of what was happening, but no one's said a thing. Are journalists asleep at the wheel?
• Apparently, yes they are. The good folks at Penny Arcade took it upon themselves to raise a couple hundred thousand dollars to buy new gaming systems for the very sick children of the Seattle's Children Hospital. This was done in part, as a response to the recent article at the NY Post that said that video games are a worse evil than anything you can imagine. In fact, the author of the article stated "This is 10,000 times worse than the worst thing anybody thinks Michael Jackson ever did to a little boy."
  
  I'm frankly a bit surprised to find out that by playing GTA or Unreal Tournament I've entered a world where I'm worse than a suspected child molester plying young boys with wine, but hey, stranger things have happened.
  
  Anyway, the boys at Penny-Arcade raised the money, bought the toys and delivered them, and the media which has been indicting video games and those who play them for everything from AIDS to both Space Shuttle disasters sent exactly how many reporters? 0. How many cameramen? 1 Wow. Isn't that just spiffy? Again, the established media is asleep at the wheel. Rather than speak the truth and open up their mouths and talk about what really is and isn't going on they chose to perpetuate a lie. Wil Wheaton tells it better than I do, so read his take on it.

I talked about my experience in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Harrisburg and finding out that we're never alone.

The phrase "We are never alone" seemed to resonate with me in more than just an X-Files UFO's zipping around Roswell kind of way. So I did some looking and came across this poem. It resonates with me because it is from a Unitarian Universalist church, and expresses spirtuality in an open-minded way, but gets across what I was trying to express.

I highly recommend the Unitarian Universalists to those who are looking for spirituality, but can't find a more traditional religion that suits their needs.

Here (from the church itself), and here (from a more neutral source) is more information on the church.

To appease my doctor on his latest fact-finding mission I consented to doing a 24 EEG, which means I go to bed wearing the EEG leads on my head, and I'm connected to a giant box full of components that are reading the waves off of my brain.

I went to the doctor's office this morning at 9 and I was scrubbed, and the technician glued all of the leads to my head. Then my head was wrapped up and I was sent home with this 40-pound computer looking like I was in the KKK. No lie, the guaze wrapping on my head makes me look like I'm getting ready for a rally with David Duke.

I spent the day relaxing and watching movies with my wife, but I have to stay plugged into this machine so it can catch my brain waves and search for any abnormalities.

I don't think they're going to find any. When I spent the night at the hospital I had a panic attack (which Heather still calls a seizure because I'm trembling when they occur) and I was hooked up to an EEG machine and it didn't record any abnormal brain waves at all. So I don't think this time will be any different, but since I have the majority of my panic attacks at night, the doctor wants to make sure that we can absolutely positively rule out epilepsy.

Which is fine by me.

So wish me luck sleeping with a machine strapped to my head. I'll let you know how it goes in the morning.

Newspapers in Louisiana are reporting that Fred Phelps will be in Louisiana picketing the school that disciplined a child for using the word gay when talking about his mother, who is indeed a lesbian.

Now maybe I'm not following something here, but should Dickhead Fred be pleased that the school punished the child? Or is he upset that they didn't boil him in oil?

I still can't see how Dickhead Fred can call himself a Christian and attempt to preach the gospel when he's so filled with hate. I mean, you wouldn't ask the KKK to speak on equal rights, or a misogynist to tell you about equality in marriage. So why do people go to this hateful, spiteful, evil man and ask him about the love of God?

It's not even gays that he hates, but Jews as well. He calls gay people Nazis, in fact saying that they are the only true Nazis [WARNING: OFFENSIVE MATERIAL], but I guess that for a man who hates Jews, the extermination of 6 million of them was no big deal.

I just can't fathom that people like this exist. It makes me sad.

Speaking of sad, Rev. Dickface never did write me back about my questions regarding his "preachings". I still haven't heard back from him regarding the email I sent him.

Fred Phelps remains a coward, and a fool (as well as a cheat and unethical...orginally a lawyer, he was disbarred for falsifying court documents, and once tried to sue Sears $50,000,000 in 1973 for not having a TV he bought on layaway available the day he wanted to pick it up. He also forcefully gave his wife a crew cut for no good reason. What a champ this guy is! source: http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/religion/fred-phelps/), and it is a shame that he will not realize the errors of his ways until he reaches heaven. There, Jesus will lead him in and show him the truth as it has always been, that God indeed loves the whole world, and ate with sinners and forgave them, not on the merits of their deeds, but on their faith. And as Rev. Dickface stands there slack-jawed trying to comprehend, St. Peter's going to wind up and kick Fred in the nuts and say "And that's for all the pain and suffering and hell you put people through you bastard!"

(Okay, that list bit was just wishful thinking on my part, but hey, a man can dream, can't he?)

I hope you all have a safe and happy New Year's Eve.

Heather and I will be making our pork and sauerkraut tomorrow, like good Pennsylvania folk, and just spending the day with each other. I'll probably be assembling more of the things we bought at Ikea with our Christmas money.

Life is good for me. My stress is decreasing, and I'm feeling better.

I'm working on my list of resolutions for the New Year, and I'll post them here when I'm done.